Air strikes kill 10 civilians in Yemen’s Hodeidah province: medics

DUBAI (Reuters) – Air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthi group in Yemen killed at least 10 civilians in Hodeidah province on Saturday, medics and Houthi media said.

Medical sources told Reuters 10 people died when the air strikes hit a Houthi checkpoint in the town of Jabal Rass while a bus was passing through.

Eight members of the same family were among the victims, they said.

The Houthi movement’s Al Massira TV said 17 died and many others were in a critical condition.

A spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition said, “We take this report very seriously and it will be fully investigated as all reports of this nature are. While this is ongoing, it would be inappropriate to comment further.”

The coalition intervened in Yemen’s war in 2015 to restore the internationally-recognised government to power. It has conducted thousands of air strikes targeting the Iran-aligned Houthis, and has often hit civilians, but denies doing so intentionally.

The war has killed more than 10,000 people, displaced more than two million and driven the country – which was already the poorest on the Arabian Peninsula – to the verge of widespread famine.